lisa’s place

As it has been so ridiculously long since I’ve posted and who knows if and when I’ll be posting again, I’m choosing to make no excuses

The second quilt is a small baby quilt for a friend.  This one uses some of the cutest bird fabrics I’ve ever seen.  You can’t really go wrong with bluebirds, can you?

The top is just a slice of a log cabin, on a large scale.  There might be a better way to describe this, but I don’t know what that would be.

The back (I think this is my favorite part:

Really, how cute and cheerful is this fabric?

Maybe some knitting next time.  I’m trying out a new browser (Flock) and it seems like it makes posting to blogger really easy.  Guess I’ll find out when I try to post this.

As a strong believer in immediate gratification and what I like to think of as efficiency (but might actually be described by some as impatience), projects that are quick to start and move along steadily and easy to finish are the most likely ones for me to actually convert to FOs. Oh yeah, turning out exactly as I had envisioned no matter what the pattern predicts is also a plus

With sewing, I find that this strategy often backfires. I’ve been trying to increase my level of patience when sewing so that some day I might be able to get to the point that I could make one of these (yeah, yeah, I know there are 225 different blocks and they require a TON of hand sewing and obviously a quilt of this nature must be quilted by hand… but still, maybe after I retire). More pictures from the adventurous souls beginning this journey can be found here.

Back to reality… In one of my moments requiring immediate gratification, I made this bag the other night. It is far from perfect, but there is something that I really like about it.

I spent a couple of hours tonight working on a baby quilt top (it will probably will become a Project Linus donation). I purposely chose something that wouldn’t be likely to show a lack of accuracy in sewing my 1/4″ seams. For the most part, it fit all my criteria for a fun project that is likely to get finished… quick and easy and looks pretty much like I had imagined it. It could have used a better ironing, however.

I suppose that in a perfect world, I would have used a solid color cotton instead of the green polka dot flannel strips. This seems minor and I was trying to use what I had on hand. All in all, I really like it so far. I’m thinking to get something in red for the binding and maybe something really soft (like Minke or something similar) for the backing. I must keep in mind that something stretchy like that could really cause a turn in my feelings about this little blanket when it comes time to actually quilt it.

And… because I can’t pass up a 40% off sale on almost all of the quilting cotton at JoAnn’s, a little fabric stash enhancement:

The 2nd from the top and 2nd from the bottom are not a part of today’s foray, but I thought they looked pretty cute with the others. I’m thinking maybe something like this… we’ll see, though. All right, off to bed now.

It seemed that SAFF was even better this year than last. So much pretty yarn and roving in such a variety of colors… hmmm… the only downside (if you think this is a negative – which I might) was the ubiquity of mohair. Mohair was everywhere and blended with every other fiber known to man. Some was unbelievably soft and some was pretty scratchy. I tried very hard to remember that I don’t much like to spin or knit with mohair and I was most successful in avoiding these purchases.

We actually had time to go and check out some of the animals (look how cute)…

This guy is just having a great big laugh, I think…

I found a beautiful new spindle… 1.4 ounces (so quite a bit heavier than my current spindle). I’ve only used it a bit, but so far I really like it.

A silk hankie… have to wait until the winter dryness subsides, I’m afraid.

These are a Merino/Tencel blend that I am so looking forward to spinning:

And the softest yarn I’ve ever felt (I think) from Brooks Farms. This is Solana, a light worsted weight washable merino. I just can’t describe the unbelievable softness and smooshiness and overall goodness of this yarn.

More to come soon…

Or… not…

So, I came home last night with the best of intentions and a great idea for how to spend my Friday nights. It always seems like I should be working that night but when I do, I am never productive (I am just very, very bitter about having to work when everyone else is playing). The general idea is this: I will only work to finish UFOs on Friday evenings. This way, I still get to do something I really want to do (knit or crochet or spin), but I will still make progress on something that I might not have made any on. (Hard to make progress on anything when you are having a pout-in at the office.)

However… I got some super soft and wonderful new yarn yesterday:

And… I just could not stay away from it.

The very, very strange thing about this yarn? I purchased it with a project in mind! I finally got this book. I love this book, but more about that later. For now, the project I had in mind is the Chrysanthemum Tea Shawl. Basically, you just crochet an enormous doily on a large hook and…. ta da… you have a pretty, round shawl.

As it turns out, this was SO much fun to work on that (while my intention was to start and then work on a pair of unfinished socks), I kept working on it until the wee hours of the morning (something like 3:30 am).

I do hope that this yarn will block out some of my messiness. If not, I can’t imagine I’ll care because it is SO soft and smooshy and nice.

All right, off to the concert!